Hulu Selling Its Japan Service To Nippon TV

After taking itself off the selling block last summer, Hulu now appears to be focusing its attention on the domestic front. Mike Hopkins, came to Hulu as CEO in October, said in a blog post today that Nippon TV is buying Hulu’s Japan operation — which launched in September 2011 as the streaming service’s sole venture outside the U.S. “We have now reached a point in the growth of the business in Japan where we feel the best path forward is to sell the company to a strategic buyer,” Hopkins wrote, adding later, “Nippon TV will take the service to new heights, with the added benefit of allowing us to focus on our growing business here in the U.S.” He said Hulu, which is controlled by Fox, Disney and Comcast, will license its brand and technology and continue to provide services to the Japan business. Nippon TV, the country’s highest-rated TV network, will add some of its titles to the service, which now includes content from 50 partners totaling more than 12,000 TV episodes and 1,000 movies. Terms of the deal were not announced.